Well in the Desert's homeless volunteers want to be good neighbors too

Volunteers and friends of the Palm Springs-based charity began cleaning up their new drop-in and cooling center downtown and say they would like to clean neighboring businesses in a demonstration of their solidarity with the community.
Jay Calderon and Jesse Marx/The Desert Sun

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Friends of Well in the Desert clean up the charity's new drop-in and cooling center at 441 S. Calle Encilia near downtown Palm Springs on June 27, 2017.(Photo: Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun)Buy Photo

Bryan Johnson understands the meaning of revival. Two years ago, he and his pregnant girlfriend were living on the streets. They now have an apartment and are planning to move soon into a house.

Johnson, 33, got back on his feet thanks to the Well in the Desert, where he now works as an administrator, overseeing a crew of homeless volunteers. Several of them spent Tuesday morning raking weeds and debris in an effort to make the charity’s new daytime drop-in and cooling center presentable in time for the official opening on Monday.

In a show of solidarity and good neighborliness, Well in the Desert is also planning to clean the properties of nearby businesses, the same ones that opposed the charity's permit in the first place. In its 21 years of operation, the charity has provided food, mail and phone service, showers, rental assistance, transportation and more.

Johnson was at the Palm Springs City Council meeting last week and heard the complaints about the charity's new location — at South Calle Encilia and East Ramon Road downtown — but was undaunted. He vowed, “We won’t be an eyesore."

Public testimony on the permit was overwhelming positive, although some of the area's business owners made clear they were contemplating legal action.

In the end, after a long discussion of its own, the council voted 3-2 in favor of the permit. J.R. Roberts urged the area's residents and businesses to work with Well in the Desert rather than against it, because the homeless are already downtown and no one else is offering to care for them during the day.

Six months from now, the council is expected to hold another public hearing to gauge whether the charity is living up to its end of the proposal.

In voting against the permit, Mayor Rob Moon and City Council member Chris Mills argued that the facility was not right for that particular neighborhood. The building is across the street from a housing complex, a stone-throw from Wang's in the Desert and other restaurants, and within view of a hotel.

At the direction of his council, Moon also, though reluctantly, voted in favor of a plan at the Coachella Valley Association of Governments Executive Committee on Monday to place the homeless and families in crisis in apartments and houses on the western end of the desert now that Roy's emergency shelter in North Palm Springs has closed.

West Valley Housing Navigation Program, administered by Path of Life Ministries and funded by Riverside County and valley cities, is based on the idea that the homeless won't be able to get on with their education and addiction or mental health treatment until the housing component is fixed.

Moon complained at the meeting that the housing initiatives was moving too quickly, without the full understanding of the public.

City Council member Geoff Kors — who helped Well in the Desert find its new location and sits on the city's homeless task force — said he was disappointed that another city leader would continue identifying problems without offering good alternatives.

"We should all want to see a solution," Kors said.

He appeared at the Well in the Desert cleanup on Tuesday and noted that a lawyer who manages the property will be working on site.

The charity has also distributed literature offering Palm Springs businesses to send out volunteers so they can talk to and dissuade any homeless people who are panhandling or making a scene. "We are very much a part of the community and want to make every effort in assisting where possible," Well in the Desert president Arlene Rosenthal wrote.

The charity volunteers were joined by Matt Naylor, owner of Architectural Blue, a swimming pool contractor. He wanted to help with the landscaping, so that the homeless who begin coming to the facility next week would feel "a sense of hope for the future."

Bill Post, a nearby resident who helps organize monthly clean ups of the Tahquitz Creek, also showed up. He figured he had enough experience with this sort of thing, so he grabbed a couple pickers.

“It’s going to take everybody to make this a success,” he said, wiping the sweat from his head.

Jesse Marx covers politics. Reach him at jesse.marx@desertsun.com or @marxjesse on Twitter.